Announcing Dead Year Among Options as Gov’t Prepares to Make “Big Decision”

While delivering his 19^th address on COVID-19 last night, President Yoweri Museveni disclosed that the government is weighing on a number of options from which they will base to make a final decision regarding the reopening of education institutions.

Among the options include declaring a dead year if the vaccine is not found or allowing only final year students to resume studies. Museveni also revealed that the government will announce its decision before September, a period when third term for schools normally starts.

“For education, I do not want to declare a dead-year yet because a lot of scientists are working on the vaccine and it may come sooner than later. Let us give it a month and focus on distance learning,” Museveni said.

“With the schools, we have to make a decision before September because that is when the 3rd term is supposed to start. This is a big issue. We are going to put a lot of emphasis on distance learning like providing radios to learners.” He added.

The closure of all education institutions was announced in March this year in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19. The closure has greatly affected the private staff who are struggling with financial hardships. Museveni last night advised the officials to get soft loans so that they can develop themselves before promising to contribute UGX 2Billion to their SACCO.

“I will contribute UGX 2 billion to the SACCO of the private schools’ teachers” Museveni promised.